May 1st / May Day / International Workers’ Day 2020 Memes

The Brief: International Workers' Day 2020 memes celebrate May Day and spread awareness about a general strike that is being organized for May 1st.

DEEP DIVE

May Day memes celebrate workers and call for actions to protect them. May 1st is May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, a holiday dedicated to workers and laborers of the world. For many workers’ rights advocates, unions, socialists, communists, and activists whose work centers on the working class, May 1st is a time to organize, strike, and protest.

As May 1, 2020 falls during the COVID-19 pandemic, events, and conversations related to May Day are taking place online instead of in-person. Memes serve as a digital method to commemorate the holiday and to express political beliefs related to workers’ rights.

The Coronavirus pandemic has also exacerbated social inequity and led to job losses for over 16 million Americans. Leftist organizers are planning a general strike that will take place on May 1st. This May Day general strike will draw attention to the ways that working people have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic in terms of issues with healthcare, unemployment, homelessness, higher death rates, and more. International Workers’ Day and general strike memes call for people to join just as rent strike memes encouraged participation in late March and early April.

May Day 2020 memes reflect a variety of opinions and views about the value of labor and workers’ rights, through both digestible image macros and calls for revolutionary action with varying amounts of irony and sincerity.